 "'Not for sale': Why are people squirting water on tourists in Barcelona")
On Saturday, hundreds of activist groups protested overtourism by marching through the heart of Barcelona.
Video footage displayed protesters asking tourists to “go home” while waving placards and squirting water guns at them.
The surge of tourists boosts Spain’s economy, but there are drawbacks as well, such as a rise in the cost of living in the region.
The protest
Thousands of protesters, representing over 150 organisations, marched through Barcelona on Saturday, according to several media sources.
Around 2,800 people, according to the police, marched along a waterfront zone in Barcelona with the slogan “Enough! Let’s put limits on tourism.” They are calling for a new economic model that would lower the millions of visitors that come each year, as per Dailymail.
Using placards that read “Barcelona is not for sale” and “Tourists go home,” protesters attacked customers who were dining outside of well-known popular tourist attractions with water guns.
Some halted in front of hotel entrances, and chants of “Tourists out of our neighbourhood” echoed.
“Local shops are closing to make way for stores that do not serve the needs of neighbourhoods. People cannot afford their rents,” said Isa Miralles, a 35-year-old musician who lives in the Barceloneta district, as per the outlet.
“We come here to demonstrate against mass ’touristification’ here in Barcelona. The last years the city has turned completely for tourists and what we want is a city for citizens and not in service of tourists,” said one demonstrator, as per Reuters.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“I have nothing against tourism, but here in Barcelona we are suffering from an excess of tourism that has made our city unliveable,” said Jordi Guiu, a 70-year-old sociologist.
One protester told Reuters that “the city has turned completely for tourists and what we want is a city for citizens and not in service of tourists” in recent years.
Another remarked that while tourist-heavy establishments like hotels and restaurants benefit financially from visitors, but some locals “are in a very poor situation and they don’t have enough money to live. That’s a problem.”
Rising cost of living
One of the key reasons for the movement is Barcelona’s rising housing costs, which have increased by 68 per cent in a decade.
Other issues include the impact of tourism on local businesses and the working conditions in the 1.6 million-person city.
According to the real estate website Idealista, rents in popular cities like Barcelona and Madrid increased by 18 per cent in June compared to the same month last year.
The city has been covered in anti-tourist graffiti for years, with phrases like “tourists go home” and other statements blaming tourists for price increases and the growth of the tourist industry.
Barcelona’s mayor, Jaume Collboni, announced a plan in June to phase out all short-term rental leases by 2028, an unexpectedly drastic move by the authorities who seek to rein in soaring housing costs and make the city liveable for its permanent residents, as per Reuters.
However, many people believe that not enough is being done to strike a balance between the requirements of citizens and tourists, who bring millions of visitors to the city annually, as per Dailymail.
“More supply of housing is needed, and the measures we’re presenting today are to provide more supply so that the working middle class does not have to leave the city because they can’t afford housing. This measure will not change the situation from one day to the next. These problems take time. But with this measure we are marking a turning point,” Collboni said.
Mass tourism in Barcelona
According to Dailymail citing local officials, a coastal city, home to world-class sites like La Sagrada Familia, saw almost 12 million tourists in the previous year.
The National Statistics Institute data say Spain, the second-most visited country after France, received 85 million foreign tourists in 2023—a rise of 18.7 per cent from the year before.
Catalonia, with its capital city of Barcelona, received 18 million visitors, more than any other region. The Balearic Islands, with 14.4 million, and the Canary Islands, with 13.9 million, were the next most popular destinations.
Authorities in Barcelona have responded to overtourism in the past few months with actions. As per USA Today, the city raised its tourist tax in April. In 2023, Barcelona prohibited cruise ships from docking at one of its terminals in an effort to reduce pollution and crowding.
Additionally, smoking became illegal on certain beaches as a result of regulations that Barcelona implemented in 2022 in an apparent effort to improve the city’s reputation and win over inhabitants.
Similar protests
Similar protests took place in popular tourist destinations like Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, and the Canary Islands.
This week, angry residents who staged massive anti-tourism protests throughout the Canary Islands earlier this year threatened to target “main holidaymaker destinations” for the summer vacation.
Roughly 200,000 demonstrators reportedly participated in large-scale protests across Tenerife on April 20.
The protests sought to deter foreign tourists while also pressuring municipalities to enact new laws that would shield the islands from the damaging consequences of a rapidly growing tourism sector.
Around 15,000 tourists gathered in the streets of Malaga, southern Spain, at the end of June, venting their discontent. The Spanish city introduced new rules like public drinking to clamp down on reckless drunken behaviour.
The Balearic island of Mallorca similarly implemented a dress code in 2022, banning swimsuits, football kits, and tank tops without straps, purchased from street vendors in pubs and restaurants.
Addressing overtourism in other countries
Many popular tourist attractions have been fighting back against local resistance by experimenting with unique new ways to manage the flow of visitors.
A town in Japan installed a 65-foot screen in April to obstruct views of Mount Fuji in an attempt to discourage tourists from gathering at a scenic location.
In April, Venice became the first city to introduce an entry fee for day-trippers. The aim was to cut down on the number of short-term tourists that cause excessive traffic during peak hours.
Many resident groups and associations are organising rallies to coincide with the tourist tax’s Italian introduction, which has generated controversy. Representatives contend that the fee will merely harm the city’s reputation rather than address the underlying problems.
With inputs from agencies
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